Boston DDP
May. 31st, 2012 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidLast night I went to a DDP (Decentralized Dance Party) in Boston, which was amazing. Boston got to have a DDP because the Kickstarter campaign for Boston raised more than $1000; all the cities that raised that much became part of Tom and Gary's Party Safar 2012i: Strictly Business (business attire suggested).
What is a DDP? From the hosts' Party Manifesto
"... the prime objective at a DDP is celebrating life, enjoying music and having fun- not getting drunk and being an idiot."
Or, it's the DJs (Tom and Gary) using cool technology (I think iPods and cool cyborg-looking gloves) to broadcast their music selections to a spot on the radio, in a fairly small area around them (and as with all DJs, the possibility of fading the music back to talk :-), picked up by all the boomboxes around. The party moves as the DJs and whoever's carrying boomboxes tuned to the right station move along with them. They brought a lot of boomboxes, and many attendees brought their own, too.
Since the tour is Strictly Business, suggested attire was business suits and suchlike, with encouragement to bring office-related props. I brought a suit jacket, but it was just too darned humid to wear it, so it ended up in my Camelbak most of the time. I saw a couple of guys in whole three-piece suits, looking fabulous even at the end (how, I have no clue, but it impressed me), one with a hard hat on top. Some people brought briefcases, there were a couple of desk phones (one ended up used as the rope for a limbo line), and even a potted floor plant.
The start location was announced less than 24 hours before the party started, down on one of the wharves near the aquarium. I got there just about on time, and saw circles of boomboxes, a couple of people in banana suits (helping theDJs), a SCUL bike, some people I knew, and a lot more I didn't. When the music started, it felt a little like a junior high school dance, that awkward time when kids are each in their own cliques around the edges and no one's in the middle dancing. And then people got into the mood and started moving to music, and it was a lot of fun (ok, except the dancing-on-concrete part, but that was to be expected over the evening).
Once there had been a couple of songs, the party started to move. We were told to follow the disco stick (lit up with changing lines of colors), and the crowd started to move, complete with beach balls bouncing through the crowd, and someone blowing bubbles. We passed lots of people who looked on in astonishment, many of them pulling out cell phones to take pictures. I encouraged people to join the party; it was interesting to see how some people were excited to do just that, while others had to stay behind their cell phones.
The music varied: there was some classic rock, some much newer, and some songs I'm not sure how to categorize. There were a few slow songs, and one "for Boston" that was almost an Irish jig. I sang along to the songs I knew, and just danced (or walked) along to the rest.
We danced/walked to the Greenway, and stayed by/in the fountain for a bit (there was an announcement to keep the boomboxes dry, please), which is a great place to dance, especially on a humid night (rant about changing weather patterns elided). Then it was around Quincy Market, up to Government Center (song that should have been played: the theme from Rocky), where there were some dance circles for a bit. We moved to the other side of the plaza, where some construction people high up on the outside of a building (15 stories? more?) waved their lights in tune with the music, getting a cheer from below. That's also where the fire department found us; apparently someone called in that we were making bonfires (song that should have been played: We Didn't Start the Fire). Obviously, we weren't, so that was fine, and when we started moving along, the firemen passed us waving, honking horns and such (more cheering from us). We looped back around across from Government Center, dancing in a covered open area that had lots of echoes (the one place I wished I had earplugs; the rest of the time the sound levels were just fine), which is where the police caught up with us, watching the party, and escorting it after that (cops on bikes, on motorcycles, and in cars). As we headed towards the Common, the DJs reminded us to stay on the sidewalk, and to cheer for the police (I saw at least one cop dancing along a bit to YMCA :-). The Common was nice, with grass to dance on, though a bit of a challenge with slopes near the T stop. We moved to the top of the park, opposite the State House, and that was where the party ended, because the Common closes at 11 P.M., and the cops were definitely enforcing that. So there were announcements thanking the police (cheers again), and people drifted off, after turning in borrowed boomboxes, if any.
I ran into a few more friends as the party continued, as well as chatting with people I didn't know before. I helped one friend carry his boom-box equivalent (a tall stick that had speakers, LEDs, and more on it) some of the time, giving me a way to participate that was a bit lower-energy than regular dancing. And it was the kind of event that just lead to lots of smiling at random people, and having them grin back, which was great.
I admit, I was glad the tour led to somewhere closer-to-home than the start point, since I was a bit foot weary by that point. But the walk home let me cool off, and I hadn't done anything bad to my knees, and it had been a totally exhilarating evening. I hope there's another one near here soon!
PSA for NY folks: there will be one in NYC Saturday night.
What is a DDP? From the hosts' Party Manifesto
"... the prime objective at a DDP is celebrating life, enjoying music and having fun- not getting drunk and being an idiot."
Or, it's the DJs (Tom and Gary) using cool technology (I think iPods and cool cyborg-looking gloves) to broadcast their music selections to a spot on the radio, in a fairly small area around them (and as with all DJs, the possibility of fading the music back to talk :-), picked up by all the boomboxes around. The party moves as the DJs and whoever's carrying boomboxes tuned to the right station move along with them. They brought a lot of boomboxes, and many attendees brought their own, too.
Since the tour is Strictly Business, suggested attire was business suits and suchlike, with encouragement to bring office-related props. I brought a suit jacket, but it was just too darned humid to wear it, so it ended up in my Camelbak most of the time. I saw a couple of guys in whole three-piece suits, looking fabulous even at the end (how, I have no clue, but it impressed me), one with a hard hat on top. Some people brought briefcases, there were a couple of desk phones (one ended up used as the rope for a limbo line), and even a potted floor plant.
The start location was announced less than 24 hours before the party started, down on one of the wharves near the aquarium. I got there just about on time, and saw circles of boomboxes, a couple of people in banana suits (helping theDJs), a SCUL bike, some people I knew, and a lot more I didn't. When the music started, it felt a little like a junior high school dance, that awkward time when kids are each in their own cliques around the edges and no one's in the middle dancing. And then people got into the mood and started moving to music, and it was a lot of fun (ok, except the dancing-on-concrete part, but that was to be expected over the evening).
Once there had been a couple of songs, the party started to move. We were told to follow the disco stick (lit up with changing lines of colors), and the crowd started to move, complete with beach balls bouncing through the crowd, and someone blowing bubbles. We passed lots of people who looked on in astonishment, many of them pulling out cell phones to take pictures. I encouraged people to join the party; it was interesting to see how some people were excited to do just that, while others had to stay behind their cell phones.
The music varied: there was some classic rock, some much newer, and some songs I'm not sure how to categorize. There were a few slow songs, and one "for Boston" that was almost an Irish jig. I sang along to the songs I knew, and just danced (or walked) along to the rest.
We danced/walked to the Greenway, and stayed by/in the fountain for a bit (there was an announcement to keep the boomboxes dry, please), which is a great place to dance, especially on a humid night (rant about changing weather patterns elided). Then it was around Quincy Market, up to Government Center (song that should have been played: the theme from Rocky), where there were some dance circles for a bit. We moved to the other side of the plaza, where some construction people high up on the outside of a building (15 stories? more?) waved their lights in tune with the music, getting a cheer from below. That's also where the fire department found us; apparently someone called in that we were making bonfires (song that should have been played: We Didn't Start the Fire). Obviously, we weren't, so that was fine, and when we started moving along, the firemen passed us waving, honking horns and such (more cheering from us). We looped back around across from Government Center, dancing in a covered open area that had lots of echoes (the one place I wished I had earplugs; the rest of the time the sound levels were just fine), which is where the police caught up with us, watching the party, and escorting it after that (cops on bikes, on motorcycles, and in cars). As we headed towards the Common, the DJs reminded us to stay on the sidewalk, and to cheer for the police (I saw at least one cop dancing along a bit to YMCA :-). The Common was nice, with grass to dance on, though a bit of a challenge with slopes near the T stop. We moved to the top of the park, opposite the State House, and that was where the party ended, because the Common closes at 11 P.M., and the cops were definitely enforcing that. So there were announcements thanking the police (cheers again), and people drifted off, after turning in borrowed boomboxes, if any.
I ran into a few more friends as the party continued, as well as chatting with people I didn't know before. I helped one friend carry his boom-box equivalent (a tall stick that had speakers, LEDs, and more on it) some of the time, giving me a way to participate that was a bit lower-energy than regular dancing. And it was the kind of event that just lead to lots of smiling at random people, and having them grin back, which was great.
I admit, I was glad the tour led to somewhere closer-to-home than the start point, since I was a bit foot weary by that point. But the walk home let me cool off, and I hadn't done anything bad to my knees, and it had been a totally exhilarating evening. I hope there's another one near here soon!
PSA for NY folks: there will be one in NYC Saturday night.